Hundreds turn out for Throw Down for the Town day of service

A volunteer spreads mulch at William D. Wood Park, just off of McKillop Road, in East Oakland.

Hundreds of Oakland residents woke up Saturday morning to put on a surgical mask, lace up their boots and get their hands dirty during the second annual “Throw Down for the Town,” a service festival that gave Oakland residents 34 options to transform their neighborhoods.

The event was organized by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a service center which promotes leadership development and advocacy in local communities. The center’s campaigns—fellowships that address violence, juvenile detention and green job creation—are designed to give people the skills and opportunities to work together in their community. The goal of Saturday’s event was to communicate with businesses and residents throughout the city and organize cleanup sites in neighborhoods that need to a little sprucing up.